Page 4 of Darkness Defined

“I’vealreadytoldyou,Daniel, I’m not interested.” My gaze wandered around the room in search of my suitcase, pointedly avoiding anywhere near myex-boyfriend.

I finally found it hiding behind the cracked door. That was one mercy. At least I wasn’t trapped in a closed room with him. That would undoubtedly be trouble if my history with Daniel was anything to go by. Of course, my mother’s strict rules about no boys in the room also didn’t hurt, not that he was following them. I moved the luggage and opened the door until it touched the wall.

“Don’t be like that, Alexi,” Daniel said, sitting on the bed and nearly undoing all of my efforts to organize my packing.

I heaved an exasperated sigh and saved a stack of shirts before they could officially topple to the floor, a move that brought me dangerously close to him. Thanks to my absolutely zero self-control, I couldn’t help but breathe in the sharp cedar of his cologne.

Getting ahold of myself, I sped up my movements before he could take advantage of my proximity. Sure enough, I caught a sigh of disappointment and looked up just in time to see his fingers pass rightthroughmy arm. I quickly put more distance between us. Fortunately, while beautiful, Daniel wasn’t the brightest. Hopefully, he’d assume that I’d simply been out of reach and not incorporeal.

“Why are you even here?” We hadn’t spoken in weeks, not since we’d broken up—again. It had been our lot the last few years to be that notorious on-again-off-again couple.

“Your mum let me in. And I couldn’t very well let you go traipsing off to some fancy Uni I’ve never heard of without a proper goodbye.” The wicked gleam in his eye left little doubt what kind of goodbye he had in mind.

Daniel knew he was classically good-looking with his square jaw and dark hair, not to mention a physique that would make Michelangelo drool. He was our small English town of Denham’s uncontested resident charmer and my own personal kryptonite. He was also a lying, narcissistic jerk that had never managed to win over my mother, who liked pretty much everyone. Which begged the question: how had he gotten past her in the first place?

A glance back at him showed he was playing with my clothes, most noticeably the underwear. I leaned over and snatched the teetering stack, plopping it into the now open case before he could stop me.

Daniel looked at me with that smug grin, his dark hair falling in his eyes, then seemed to flow up off of the bed. For a human, he was surprisingly graceful, especially since he was even taller than my six feet. Once, it had been nice to be with someone who could literally cocoon me with their embrace. Now it was just suffocating. Daniel stepped forward until he’d invaded my personal space.

My spine stiffened, but I refused to back down. “Like I said before. Not interested,” I reiterated in blatant disregard of my already racing heart. This is what Daniel did, what he always did, but I was determined not to make the same mistakes.

“Come on, Alexi, no one knows you like I do. No one can touch you like I can.” Daniel’s voice was practically a purr.

Desire pulled at me, undermining my resolve. He leaned in just enough so I could feel his breath on my lips. One last hurrah, that’s what we would call it. Something to remember him by when I finally left for Arminius and could put all of this behind. But I knew what would really happen. We’d go out, have an amazing night, end up back at his place, and in the morning, I’d wake up feeling used—again.

“I think we could really make the long-distance thing work.” His slick words were barely more than a suggestive whisper hovering over my lips.

I barked a laugh. “Are you serious? Long distance? Daniel, we couldn’t even make down the street work.” This time, the laugh was bitter.

“It’ll be different,” he argued.

“You mean youwon’tcheat on me?” I fired back.

“Clarke hardly counts, and we were drunk anyway, so it definitely doesn’t count.”

I looked at him in total disbelief. “Do you even hear what you’re saying?” I scoffed to myself. One of us knew better. “You know what? I’m done entertaining your ego. I want you out of my house.”

Daniel reached for my arm.

I ripped it out of reach, still not trusting myself if he actually laid a hand on me. “Now.”

His arm dropped, and he looked at me entreatingly. “Lexi.”

I pointed to the very open door.

“Baby,” he cooed.

I stood firm. After what felt like forever, he rolled his eyes and stomped out, every inch the petulant ass who hadn’t gotten what he wanted. I waited until he crossed the threshold of my bedroom, then slammed the door shut and locked it for good measure.

I rested my head against the door, still struggling with the contradictory impulse to race after him. It wasn’t like I hadn’t dated other guys. There was just something about Daniel that kept me coming back like a glutton for punishment. I grabbed a random book off the desk by the door and chucked it at the far wall.

Why am I so weak? How does he still have any hold on me? He cheated on me, for God’s sake.

“Honey, are you alright?” a delicate voice asked through the thin wood.

“I’m fine, mom.”

“If you’re so fine, then open the door.”